Coming into its 2024-2025 campaign, NIU men’s golf head coach John Carlson had one goal: To earn a spot in the NCAA Regional Tournament. 

“We set out a goal at the beginning of the year to earn a way to the NCAA Regionals,” Carlson said. “We felt we fell short this week.” 

After the Mid-American Conference Championship wrapped up on Tuesday, the Huskies finished in fourth place in a field of nine teams. 

“It hurts to not accomplish our goals, but on the flip side, for 45 holes we were one of the best three teams,” Carlson said. “We put ourselves in a position to head into the back nine today to win a championship … hats off to Kent State (University), they played a great round of golf.”

The tournament was a bittersweet end to a transitional period in the men’s golf program, as two captains on the team played in one last college tournament. 

After leading the team for the past two seasons, seniors Ben Sluzas and Felix Krammer look back on illustrious careers at NIU.  

“They’ve (Sluzas and Krammer) rewritten the history books,” Carlson said. “It’s been a true joy to coach both of them. They both carry themselves professionally and represent NIU golf and NIU Athletics at the highest level.”

Playing in all 47 golf tournaments throughout his collegiate career, Sluzas leaves the program with the lowest career scoring average in NIU history. Furthermore, at the Badger Invitational in the fall, Krammer matched NIU’s 18-hole scoring record. 

Despite not eclipsing the NCAA Regional Tournament as planned, NIU was a pest to its conference foes nonetheless. 

The Huskies finished the first day in leading position, while exiting the second round in the top three. Unfortunately for NIU, a 15-over par third-round showing would ultimately cost the Huskies a podium finish. 

The Huskies certainly saw individual success, though, as sophomore Craig Long II cracked into the top-five. As a result, Long earned a spot on the MAC All-Tournament team after tying for fourth place.

Long’s success on the conference’s biggest stage was propelled with a first-round score of 68 – a season-best which came unexpectedly. After Long didn’t get the start he wanted to on the first day, an eagle on Hole 11 revitalized his game. 

“That round (Round 1) was kind of interesting. I hit 16 fairways and 15 greens and so when you do that, you usually shoot pretty low …  I literally just did not make a single putt on the front nine,” Long said. “I ended up chipping in on (Hole) 11 for eagle, and I got really passionate after I did that.” 

Long returned to form after an electric first round, carding an even-par score of 72 in the second round and a score of 74 in the third round. 

Trailing Long by a single stroke, Krammer finished his season accordingly – at the top of the leaderboard. Finishing one-under par, Krammer tied for sixth place, accounting for the second-best finish from an NIU golfer. 

“I think what went overall good this week was my off the tee game was outstanding. I didn’t have too many fairway misses,” Krammer said. 

Krammer posted a score of 73 in the first round before improving to his tournament-best score of 70 in the second round. Krammer closed the final tournament of his college career with a score of 72 in the third round. 

The Arkansas State University transfer and soon-to-be NIU alum reflected on his time as a Huskie, shedding light on the tight-knit relationship among the team. 

“If I had to kind of sum up NIU, I’d say it was just playing and competing with my family,” Krammer said. “We have such a high value and emotions for each other and that’s really cool … we don’t leave anyone behind.” 

Sluzas finished as NIU’s third-best golfer, finishing tied for 16th place. Kicked off with back-to-back even-par rounds, a score of 78 in the third round ultimately sabotaged him.

Leaving behind a four-year career as a leader on the team, Sluzas aims to play golf professionally following college. 

Freshman Beau Petersen produced NIU’s fourth-best finishing, exiting the tournament in 24th place. Petersen posted a 72 in the first round, followed by a 73 in the third round. 

A third-round score of 79 hurt Petersen, subsequently lowering him on the leaderboard.

Rounding out the Huskies’ lineup, freshman Patrick Raupp finished in 36th place. After a score of 78 in the first round, Raupp caught a short-lived spark, logging a redeeming score of 73 in the second round. 

Raupp was then halted by a score of 81 in the third round. 

As NIU now loses multiple veterans to the team, the Huskies’ roster is significantly younger. Carlson commented on his excitement with the team’s five freshmen. 

“We’ll be younger than we have been in the past, but we’ll be very talented with incoming freshmen, along with the likes of Beau Peterson, Patrick Raupp and Connor McCall, who have all had starts in major tournaments.”

Furthermore, NIU turns to Long as the team’s primary leader heading into the Fall 2025 season. Long expressed his vision for the Huskies’ send-off season in the MAC. 

“I have a great leadership role ahead of me,” Long said. “I see a lot of new heights, new things being accomplished. I see a lot of growth as human beings. We’re all going to learn together.”

As the MAC Championship was the final tournament of the Huskies’ season, NIU returns to action in August.